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Update: Radford defeated LIU Brooklyn, 71-61, in the opening First Four game. UCLA vs. St Bonaventure just tipped off. Read on to check out a preview and the final odds.

March Madness officially starts tonight with a pair of play-in games between four of the last eight squads to make the 68-team field for the 2018 NCAA Tournament. It all begins with LIU Brooklyn and Radford duking it out with a No. 16 seed and a first-round date with Villanova—No. 1 in the East and No. 2 overall—up for grabs, followed by a marquee matchup between St. Bonaventure and UCLA to get on the East’s No. 11 line, which will set up a showdown with sixth-seeded Florida.

The action gets underway when the Highlanders and Blackbirds go head-to-head at 6:40 p.m. ET on truTV (if you are not familiar with truTV, you are not alone – click here for help finding which channel this network is located on for your television provider), immediately followed by the Bonnies and Bruins—9:10 p.m. ET is the approximate tip-off time—on the same network. Oddsmakers are expecting close contests this evening, installing Radford as a slight four-point favorite. UCLA is favored as well, laying 3.5-points in the Dayton, Ohio-based bout.

Jake Winderman noted that Florida has never lost to either of the potential first-round opponents it will face later this week:

Will the chalk prevail and advance to the first round of the Big Dance, or will an underdog ring in March Madness with an early upset? Jon Price of SportsInformationTraders.com has provided his take on the matchups, offering his thoughts on which teams will move on to the first round later this week. Before getting to the expert hoops handicapper’s predictions, take a quick look at the complete schedule, updated odds, TV and live streaming info and more for every game on tap during the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

There should be some fireworks as the Highlanders and Blackbirds fight for what is almost guaranteed to be the last win of the season. There’s basically no chance for either of these teams to beat Villanova on Thursday, but it’ll be fun to watch them put it all on the line for the right to give it a try.

Radford missed out on winning the Big South by a game, but the No. 2 seed earned an automatic bid by navigating through conference tournament and edging fifth-seeded Liberty on a buzzer-beating trey to make it to the Big Dance. They’ll have to get past another Cinderella hopeful to join the rest of the teams in the first round, which won’t be easy given LIU Brooklyn’s explosive scoring ability.

John Clark tweeted a clip of ‘Nova celebrating getting the No. 1 seed. The Wildcats should feel very comfortable in their ability to dispatch the victor of tonight’s matchup:

As the only New York City school in the field, the Big Apple will be rooting for senior guard Joel Hernandez—a New Jersey native—and the rest of the Blackbirds on Tuesday night. Hernandez said he’s looking to show out on the big stage, as per the New York Post:

I want to pretty much put us on the map. I feel like not a lot of people in America know about us. I pretty much want to shock everyone and show them that we're a good team, we can compete with any of the best teams out there.

Don’t be surprised if Hernandez, who averages 20.9 points to pace a team that puts up 78 per game, has more magic left after helping guide LIU Brooklyn to an unlikely Northeast Conference Tournament victory against No. 1-seeded Wagner. The Blackbirds went just 18-16 in 2017-18, but won when it mattered most to get involved in March Madness.

It’ll be difficult to knock out a Radford foe that has won seven straight, but the underdog averages 11 points per game more than the Highlanders and should be able to generate enough buckets to pull off the first upset of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Don’t expect the Cinderella run to continue against Villanova, but enjoy what should be a fun start to the Big Dance in Dayton.

Pick: LIU Brooklyn +4

No. 11 St. Bonaventure vs. No. 11 UCLA

This is the marquee game of the evening, pitting two teams that had vastly different seasons in terms of how they define success. The Bruins were hoping to build on a No. 3 seed and Sweet 16 appearance last year and fell far short, while the Bonnies had a great year and managed to earn a coveted at-large invite despite a disappointing end to their conference tournament run.

UCLA had a down year in general after a very promising 2016-17 season. The program was rocked by a shoplifting scandal during a visit to China in November and it shaped how the rest of the campaign played out. It resulted in the suspension of three freshman players, a group that included LiAngelo Ball, brother of Lonzo Ball—the one-and-done point guard that led UCLA to the Sweet 16 in the 2017 NCAA Tournament and subsequently drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers—and son of the controversial LaVar Ball, who notably feuded with President Donald Trump in the wake of the shoplifting revelations. Ball ultimately left the program and is now playing professionally in Lithuania with his younger brother, LaMelo, who was a UCLA commit prior to the move.

The Bruins finished with a 22-11 record and were firmly on the bubble at the end of the season, but did enough to convince the committee after battling to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament. Head coach Steve Alford has made the Sweet 16 in three of his first four years at UCLA’s helm, but has a long and unlikely journey ahead of him to potentially get to at least the Elite Eight for the first time. He spoke about that leading up to his team’s First Four contest, as per CBSSports.com

Would we like to be playing two games instead of three? Yeah, but we don't control that, so we know we're in Dayton and we're playing St. Bonaventure, so we've just got to get to work on them.

SportsCenter highlighted the programs on the bubble that the Bruins and Bonnies beat out on Selection Sunday:

St. Bonaventure is making its return to the Big Dance after a five-year hiatus. The squad started off hot, but hit a mid-season lull and lost four of five games at one point. It found its stride again at the end of January and wouldn’t lose again until Saturday, winning 13 in a row before finally losing to Davidson in the Atlantic-10 Tournament semifinal. While the school missed out on automatically qualifying due to that 12-point defeat, they did enough to impress the committee and earn an at-large bid for the first time since 2009.

The Bonnies may not have the big name, storied history and big-city campus of their impending opponent, but this New York State-based program put together a truly solid 2017-18 campaign. They finished within the top-25 for RPI and went 3-3 in Quadrant 1 (you can click here read more about the importance of quadrants and how they impacted the selection committee’s choices this year) and 6-1 in Quadrant II games. They boast a veteran roster that features two senior guards in Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley that double as their top scorers, averaging a combined 38.3 points on 44% field goal and 42% three-point shooting. If these two are on their game, it’s going to be extremely tough for the Bruins to pull out a “W”.

Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure’s head coach, said that his roster will not be taking this play-in game lightly, as per the Democrat and Chronicle:

I’ve been here 11 years and every game we play with a chip on our shoulder. It’s not going to be any different. We know how good UCLA is and the tradition that UCLA has. We’ve got great tradition here as well.

If UCLA is going to repair its formerly sterling reputation—this is the school’s 49th NCAA Tournament berth and it has won 11 national titles—it will need All-Pac 12 guard Aaron Holiday, the conference’s leading scorer with a 20.3 points per game average, to have a big night. The team would also be wise to utilize the massive size advantage it boasts over the Bonnies, as only two players on the opposing roster are 6’8” or over. The Bruins have eight such players that fit that description, including 6’8” guard Kris Wilkes and a seven-foot center in Thomas Welsh.

It should be a back-and-forth battle, but ultimately UCLA will win out if it can keep St. Bonaventure’s potent guard duo from doing too much damage. The Bruins can focus their efforts on shutting down Adams and Mobley and dare the frontcourt to beat them, which isn’t likely. Courtney Stockard has been a decent third option for the Bonnies, but averages only 12.9 points and may not even be available this evening. He’s a game-time decision after suffering a hamstring injury that forced him to miss the A-10 semifinal and his absence was a huge blow to the eventual runner-up, especially since he had previously put up 31 points—a season high—in a triple-overtime game against Davidson at the end of February.

Keep an eye on the injury report, if Stockard isn’t playing then UCLA is an absolute lock against the spread. The Bruins are still a good play, but the final scoreline is sure to be much closer. For bracket purposes, you can pencil in UCLA to advance to take on Florida on Thursday.